Burning fire
by Crimson Waterfall
Summary: DISCONTINUED For his twenteeth birthday prince Duo receives a traditional gift. A slave. But he likes none of them, they're all just mindless zombies, all but one. He might come to regret taking the disobedient Heero as his slave. AU 2x1
1. Chapter 1

**I'm not sure if this story will live up to it's ratings, I just did it to be sure because it's a master/slave story I'll warn you when something dirty comes up!**

**Burning fire**

**Prologue**

'Duo!' His father looked up, surprised as his son came barging into his room. The slave he got for his birthday obediently following him. 'What in the world is wrong?' He father demanded, he didn't have time for his son right now, he had more important things to worry about, like warfare.

'I don't like this slave!' Duo said, pointing accusingly at the poor excuse of a human sitting on the ground, staring into thing air.

His father looked up from the papers in front of him on his desk and let his eyes wonder to the fragile slave sitting at Duo's feet. 'Now what is wrong with this one?' He asked, annoyed. It was a tradition in this country that the son of the king would receive a slave as his twentieth birthday present and he had decided to follow that tradition. As if the shock of his son wanting a male slave wasn't large enough he was very picky. None of the five slaves offered to him thus far pleased him and each and every time he came to his father to complain. 'I don't see anything wrong with him, he is beautiful and he is willing.' He turned to his work again but Duo slammed his hand on the dark hardwood desk, trying desperately to keep his fathers attention with him.

King Maxwell looked up, angry.

'He is TO willing!'

His father rolled his eyes 'We have discussed this already, I don't want you taking a disobedient slave, okay? You will never be able to handle a slave like that, something like that takes discipline, something you have a shortage of.'

'I thank you for your faith in me father.' Duo sarcastically and looked down at his slave, sighing. 'I don't want some mindless slave. You can't really call them humans. Their is no fire in their eyes. Actually, they have no emotion at all!'

'How long are you going to keep nagging about this?'

'Till you cave.'

His father sighed, shook his head and went back to work. But as soon as he did his son continued talking and complaining in all kinds of irritating voices. For someone his age he sure was childish. He tried to concentrate, but it was futile, their was no way he could think sensibly with Duo standing there, now starting to sing an annoying song. He hated it when Duo did these things, forcing him like this. He cursed his dead wife, may she rest in peace, for giving him such a troublesome son.

'OKAY!' He screamed finally, his hands in hair.

Duo fell silent and looked at him hopefully.

'I'll let Commander Chang go down to the port tomorrow to get you another slave.' He could not believe he caved in... again!

'No.' Duo said determined.

'No! Now what is wrong this time! Didn't I gave you enough already you ungrateful brat!' He stood and slammed his hands on the desk with such strength that the wood actually creaked and moaned under the force.

'Father, please, if you let WuFei go he'll pick a slave just like this one. Let me go with him. Let me pick a slave myself.' Duo stared his father in the eye for what seemed like an eternity.

Finally: 'Okay... but if someone assassinates you on the slave market, it is not my fault.'

Duo smiled 'Thanks dad!'

He sighed, he will regret this greatly. Not only was a disobedient slave dangerous, as they could kill you in your sleep, they were just simply hard to handle. Rest will leave this castle for good, he was sure of that.

**Okay, thus far the story doesn't seem quite interesting, I am hoping to change that soon!**

**Please people... REVIEW!**

**C.W.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Burning fire **

**Chapter one**

Duo looked around in awe as he walked through the busy market, his Friend and bodyguard, WuFei at his side, hand on his sword, ready to fend off any attacker. They were at the harbour, huge sail ships docked in and unloaded, immediately selling anything they had on board on the market. People from all ranks were here, the poor and wealthy. Duo felt a bit uncomfortable in his black satin clothes and silver jewellery while being surrounded by so many people wearing simple brown cotton clothes, once in a while coming up to him, begging for money. He felt guilty, a feeling he didn't feel often in his spoiled life.

'We're here. The slave market.' WuFei announced, slightly disgusted. He was fiercely against slavery, his own mother used to be a slave, but she was freed by his wealthy father.

'Great!' Duo called, excited. It was a lot quieter as many people could not afford a slave. He felt better here, even though there were people around him chained in cages.

Salesmen crowded them, all saying they had the best slaves for the best prizes. Real quality, they said. One of them even started pulling him towards his stand but he quickly regretted it as WuFei's razor sharp sword separated him from Duo.

WuFei grabbed Duo's arm and pulled him through the crowd, leaving them behind.

'Where are we going?' Duo asked curiously, as they went off the market and further into the harbour, towards a large sail ship.

'I have made some arrangements.' WuFei simply said and came to a quick halt right before the ship.

A man, dressed in Blue satin and velvet clothing approached them with open arms. 'Chang! It's an honour to have you here and...' He looked at Duo in question.

'This is your prince Duo Maxwell.'

The mans eyes widened and he bowed before him. 'What brings you to my humble ship?' He asked. Though his ship was all but humble, it was the largest in the dock.

'We came for a al slave. So far the others couldn't satisfy our prince.' WuFei said.

The man grinned and looked Duo up and down 'Well, no matter what you are looking for, I can give it you. Come! Come!'

They followed him onto the ship and the man introduced him to his partner and the captain of the ship before they went down to the cages. It was dark downstairs and deadly quiet.

The man, who had yet to introduce himself lit some candles and proudly showed them his slaves, who were all in separate cages.

'My slaves are obedient and always willing.'

'That was what was wrong with my previous slaves.' Duo said and earned a surprised glance from the slave seller.

Then, he grinned 'Ah, I see, you want a disobedient one?'

Duo nodded and the mans grin widened as he guided them to the back. The cages were smaller then others they had seen before and it wasn't so quiet here. Sounds of banging and protesting could be heard.

Duo sneaked a peek into the first cage, in the faint light he could see a young boy, dark blond hair and brown eyes. The boy growled at him.

The salesman held his candle infront of the cage, so Duo could have a better look. It was not the type of slave he was looking for. His hair was short, his jaw and shoulders broad and he looked heavy. Duo shook his head and they went to a cage opposite of the one they had just seen. It held a similar slave and Duo, again, shook his head in disapproval.

The next cage held a rather beautiful boy. Brown, shoulder length hair and forest green eyes.

WuFei made a comment about the boy looking malnourished and that got him into an argument as the salesman protested and explained him with loud voice that he took good care of his property.

As the fight continued, both men standing their grounds. Duo continued inspecting the cages. It was hard to see them, but a few candles, hanging on the walls provided him with enough light to inspect the goods. All came close to what he wanted, but they didn't fit his dreams perfectly. Or they looked to fragile, or to a little to fat. Duo sighed heavily after watching one slave in particular for a long time. He had an ugly scar across his stomach that was infected, he would die soon.

The next cage was smaller then the rest, you could not stand upright in it. Duo bend down, to have a look inside. At first, he thought it might be empty, for he couldn't see a thing. But then he heard a faint sound of movement and the little amount of light were caught in a pair of eyes, staring at him with the intensity of a predator stalking it's prey. Duo gasped, the eyes, that reflected the faint light of a candle, shown brightly and had an extraordinary colour. The deep blues continued to stare into his amethyst eyes, taking him in. It felt like a game, who would look away first. He noticed the sound of argument had stopped and WuFei and the salesman crouched beside him.

The man looked at the slave and then at Duo and he grinned widely 'Ah, got your eyes on this feisty one?'

Duo nodded for the first time averting his eyes. When he looked back into the cage, the eyes he had stared into were gone. The figure had retreated to the pitch black corner of his small cage.

'Prince, meet Heero Yuy. We found him at the age of ten, tried to train him for years but he just refused to listen, so now we officially dubbed him Most Disobedient.'

'How old is he?'

'Sixteen, he's 1.65 m tall, weighs about 48-50 kilo's, brown, messy hair, blue eyes...' The man trailed off as he saw Duo paid no attention at all. He was way to busy trying to see the slave in the dark cage.

The salesman held his candle in front of the cage to shine light in it.

His body was small and lithe, not overly muscled. Whether his skin was so perfectly gold of itself or if it was the light, Duo didn't know, but it was smooth, no imperfections and looked healthy. He sat with his legs pulled up to his chest, his chin resting on his knees while he watched them from the corner of his eyes. His eyes held exactly what he was searching for. Fire and emotions swirling in his eyes. He looked dangerous and passionate. Duo could almost imagined how he looked when they'd had sex. Would he keep that intensity in his eyes?

'I take him.' Duo stated.

The salesman clapped happily in his hands and called for some assitence. In a matter of second three large men were by there side and opened the cage.

Instead of trying to back away further into his cage Heero lashed out, very feral like. One of the men backed away, Duo winced as he saw there were nasty scratch marks on his cheek. He felt slightly nervous about having Heero with him for the rest of his life. He knew how dangerous a disobedient slave could be. But somehow it sounded so fitting to him, being killed by a person like Heero, that he didn't worry all to much.

After some struggling the men finally caught both Heero's arms and lifted him out of the cage. As they held him, when they were standing upright again, Heero's feet did not touch the ground.

Furiously he tried to kick them and he screamed, trying with all his might to free himself.

'I hope you realise what you have just done.' Wufei whispered in his ear. His dark eyes blinking each and every time the boy let out a loud shout. It was all he could do trying not to wince.

Duo grinned as he now noticed Heero was naked and took the opportunity to take his 'assets' in. 'Yes, I have no regrets.' He said with a smirk.

WuFei rolled his eyes and they followed the men outside. They walked off the ship were a small wagon was, a cage on top of it. With even more difficulty they locked the boy up again. Angry he kicked against the hard wooden bars, they creaked and bend, but did not break. He soon got tired from his efforts and retreated to a far corner, pulling his knees up again. Hissing like an angry cat at Duo.

'That's Six pounds.' The salesman stated, holding out his hand, waiting to be paid.

'Six pounds of gold!' WuFei yelled, shocked 'I hope we get an free whip extra for that amount of money!'

Duo elbowed Wufei, to make him shut up and then handed a velvet bag to the man.

The man weighed it in his hands and nodded, grinning like a maniac. 'My men will assist you to your castle.' He said, then said his goodbye and left.

Two of the man pulled the wagon. It was a long and hot road to the castle. Outside the market WuFei and Duo's horses awaited them along with five guards.

They silently rode the sandy road to the castle. It was hot, the sun was high in the sky. The white houses of the city reflected the rays, blinding them as they passed through the streets. Finally out of the city they had to go through a kilometre of desert.

Duo pitied the men, send by the salesman, who didn't wear shoes. Their bare feet must be burning in the hot sand.

Finally reaching the white palace they pulled the wagon up the three steps and into the main hall. When they entered his father came down the stairs, his red, velvet, robe flowing around his body. Aftyer saying the two men goodbye and giving them a tip for their effort he turned towards Duo and cautiously looked at the dark cage, that was seemingly emty. He raised his blonde eyebrow.

Duo smirked 'Don't worry father, I got what I wanted, I will no longer disturb him.'

'Were the four pounds of gold I gave you enough?'

Duo grinned widely and looked at WuFei, who's face became pale. 'Yes, it was enough.'

The king showed no interest into his new purchased slave at all and returned to his office, his bare feet thudding on the white marble floors.

He winced as a strong hand clamped down on his shoulder.

'FOUR pounds?' A voice hissed.

Duo shrugged and the hand let go 'I can't help it the man is so stupid not to count his money.'

'Yes, his faith in his future kind turns out to be misplaced.' WuFei said, obviously not pleased with the princes arrogant behaviour. He left after handing his green cape to one of the slaves working in the palace.

'Bring him to my room, don't forget to lock the door, I don't want my new property to escape.'

Two guards nodded and dragged the wooden cage up the many stairs to his large room.

'Ladies,' He turned towards the slaves who all wore thin red clothes, nothing more then loose pants and a small top, a veil covering their noses and mouths. (1) 'I think it is time for my bath.'

The four women nodded and walked by his side towards the bathing quarters. A large white room with a sky roof. The floor had several levels and because the room was so large the roof was supported by large broken white pillars. There were many baths. A large one, a small one, a hot one, a cold one.

The women carefully undressed him and he sighed contentedly as he sat down in the large hot bath. One of the women joined him and carefully washed his body in the usual routine. The others stood by the edge of the bath, handing his drinks and grapes. Spoiling him like the rich prince he was. He was not used to anything else.

He smirked as soon these ladies wouldn't have to wash him anymore now that he had his own slave. But he wondered just how willing Heero was to do things for him.

When he was finished and the bath began turning cold he came out and let the women dry an dress him in loose black linen pants and button up shirt. He strapped a dagger around his waist, in case he had to defend himself from the wild Heero. Fresh, clean and really excited he walked up the marble stairs a sharp contrast to the rich red Persian carpets that lay in the hallway, that were warm under his feet.

King Maxwell saw his son walk past his office and shook his head, seeing the smirk and the dagger.

The cage were Heero used to be in stood outside the door of his room, now empty. He unlocked the door and quietly peeked in. No sign of the murderous slave. He slipped into the room and locked the door behind him. His whole room was in the colour broken white, the floor and the walls. His bed was made with dark red sheets and thin curtains draped down from the ceiling in front of his large floor to ceiling window, behind that a large balcony that looked out on the palaces beautiful garden, that was an oases in the hot desert with exotic trees and flowers and a beautiful fountain. Their was a cosy fireplace in one of the corners of his room with a nice warm rug in front of it and the room also contained a large red sofa with many pillows to cuddle.

There was a door sized whole in the wall opposite of the wall where his bed was. Red curtain hung in front of the door, separating his private bathroom from his bedroom.

Seeing that his slave was not in his bedroom he must be waiting for him in the bathroom. With silent footsteps he walked towards the curtain and slowly pushed it aside, cautious. But as soon as he pushed the thick curtain to the side some one, Heero without a doubt, jumped on him and he fell backwards onto the ground. They struggled and rolled, trying to stay atop of the other. After a long battle that left them both panting Duo ended up on top, straddling Heero's waist and holding the sharp dagger against the slim neck of the youth.

'Hello babe.' Duo teasingly said.

Heero growled and did the unexpected. He spit straight in Duo's face in disgust.

Duo grimaced and brought one hand up to wipe the saliva away. 'Naughty boy.'

Heero struggled again but soon gave up, he was weak from the long and hot ride to the palace.

Seeing Heero's dry and cracked lips he reckoned he was dehydrated and that he was his slave didn't mean he had the right to malnourish him. Unlike his previous slaves, Heero could actually be called a human being.

'I'm gonna let go of you now so I can get you some water, okay? So just, stay here and don't... try anything.'

Heero just silently looked at him. Duo could do nothing but take that as a yes and slowly let go of Heero's hands on stood up, only now noticing the boy wore one of his black linen pants.

But as soon as he stood Heero swiped him down with his leg and scrambled up.

Duo groaned and rub his chin, that was roughly connected with the marble, painfully.

Heero ran towards the door but soon found out it was locked. When he turned around again, Duo was back on his feet, smiling wickedly at him.

Heero growled and let his eyes dart out towards the window for a fraction of a second but Duo saw it. When the young boy made a dash towards the balcony Duo quickly rushed towards him and caught him midway, tackling the small body. With a loud thud they hit the hard ground and repeated the struggle from before.

Outside his bedroom door stood Duo's father, holding a steaming glass cup of tea, shaking his head disapprovingly, walking away, ducking his head between his shoulders as he heard the unmistakable sound of glass shattering.

**Hmmm... this came out well if I might say so myself.**

**(1) As you can see the culture Duo lives in completely resembles the Arabian culture around the seventeenth/eighteenth century. But that's not where they are, they're actually in another world so I could give my imagination all the freedom it needs. So I kinda stole the beautiful Arabian culture... but shhh... don't tell anyone **

**Well, was this chappie long enough?**

**I'll update whenever I can!**

**Huggles from Crimson Waterfall**


	3. Chapter 3

Burning fire 

**Chapter 2**

They were on the balcony, Heero lay flat on his stomach on the hard stone while Duo sat on top of him, holding Heero's hands behind his back. He looked at the pieces of glass surrounding them and then back at the large floor to ceiling window that was completely shattered. He flinched when after a long moment of silent, another piece fell off the window still and shattered on the ground. He turned back to Heero, lowering his head so that he could look at him.

'You know...' He started, his mouth close to Heero's ear, 'You're gonna have to pay for that.' He said with a smirk and darted his tongue out to tease the earlobe.

Heero struggled, trying to throw him off but Duo was in advantage now and Heero could do nothing else but submit.

'Now what am I going to do with you if I can't trust you?' He asked playfully, of course Heero didn't respond to his question and just looked away. Duo frowned, not liking the way Heero ignored him, he ran his lips open mouthed over Heero's ear and smirked as the youth shuddered. 'What to do, what to do?' He murmured.

'Getting off me would be a good thing to start with.' Heero spat, his voice hoarse from dehydration.

'It speaks!' Duo exclaimed with a grin, he reached back and tore a strip of fabric off the curtain and used it to bind Heero's hands and feet together. He stood, waiting for a while, just looking down to see if he was able to break the bonds. But he didn't even try. If he were too tired or knew they couldn't be broken Duo didn't know, but it satisfied him that he had gained some control. He lifted the bundle of squirming human up and dropped it on the red sheets of his bed. He looked around his sleeping quarter, trying to find a solution to keep Heero here, without having to lock him back in the small and dark cage. For some reason he didn't like seeing him locked up like that. Though Heero's body was small, the cage seemed to small to fit his free spirit in.

The door suddenly opened and a maid walked in carrying towels, as soon as she saw Heero, laying bonded on the bed and duo standing beside him, panting, she blushed and quickly turned back, closing the door after muttering a faint excuse.

Duo laughed and looked down at the half naked man lying on his bed, he could only imagine how it must have looked like for the servant. He laughed again as that was actually the precise thing he had wanted to do with Heero if the boy had co-operated.

'I'll get you some water.' He declared and left for the bathroom. When he returned he was not surprised to see Heero had rolled off the bed, lying on his stomach, fighting against the bonds. He obviously didn't hear Duo approaching him and flinched and yelped when the taller man suddenly crouched down next to him.

Smirking, Duo rolled Heero back on his back and lifted his head up. Serving him the water. Heero choose to ditch his dignity and accepted the fluid gratefully, almost choking as he drank to fast.

'Now, now, take it easy.' He hushed, suddenly feeling very protective over his slave. With his index finger he wiped the stream of escaped water off the boys chin and licked the water off his finger.

Heero gave him and angry, disgusted look, but did nothing as he was in desperate need of more water. Duo took the time to study him some more. His face, which he had already memorised, was perfect, the long lashes and full lips giving him a bit of a feminine look. His body was in good shape, lean muscles covered by smooth flawless skin. The only thing he disliked was how skinny he suddenly looked in the bright sunlight. He could vaguely see the outlines of his ribs and now that he was lying down he could see how flat and thin his waist was.

An annoying feeling of guilt flooded him, guilt and sorrow. Suddenly angry at the man who didn't feed him enough. Surprised about his own possessiveness and protectiveness he tilted his head and stared off into thin air, thinking. It took him a while to notice that the glass in his hand, which he had served to Heero, was now empty. He put it away and lay Heero back on the bed.

His slave yawned and his eyes fluttered close. Strange that he suddenly looked so much at peace in an environment he didn't trust one bit before. Thinking that it was a trick Duo stayed by his side, waiting for him to begin struggling against his bonds. But he didn't. He heard his breathing slowly evening out, his lips parted slightly and snuggled his head into the soft and fluffy pillow.

He smiled and leaned down against his will and placed a soft kiss on Heero's forehead. He even reached over and carefully, as to not awaken the boy, un-knotted the fabric, freeing him from his bonds. This would be the big test, to see if Heero was at least a bit obedient.

He walked to the balcony, looking down, there was no way a man, in a healthy state of mind, would jump down. It was too high, he would break his legs. Satisfied that Heero couldn't really escape he left the room, of course locking the door behind him and left to find his father.

His father flinched and sat upright when Duo entered his office, Despite the grin on his sons face he feared that the same routine they had already 'practised' five times would be repeated. He sighed and gave Dhis son, the heir of the thrown a stern look. 'And what is wrong with this one? To much for you to handle?'

Duo frowned, not knowing what he was talking about, causing the king to frown on his turn. The king thought for a moment and carefully studied his son standing on the other side of his desk looking rather smug...

'Do you have something to say or did you think it was time to come and bug me again?' He questioned and looked down at the papers in front of him, pretending not to pay attention. 'Already bored with your slave?' He added, flipping through the files.

'No.'

Surprised he looked up. 'No?' He repeated.

'No. In fact...' Duo sat down atop of his fathers desk, knowing how much the man hated it when he did that 'I'm rather fond of thins one.' He said with a smirk, giving his father a wink.

His father just stared at him, suspiciously.

Duo sighed dreamily, to irritate his father even more 'No... I think I'm keeping this one. He sure does... satisfy me.' He gave his father a dirty look and his laughter echoed through the room as he saw the king blush and heard him stutter, trying to form words. From the moment he had told his father he was more interested in his own gender, the man found it hard to talk about the topic. And since Duo's purpose in life was to make his father's miserable he never did forget to bring the topic up.

'Now if you will excuse me,' He stood again, 'I have some arrangements to take care of.' He took off, leaving his father blushing for the rest of the day.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When he entered his room an hour later, a wooden crate in his hands, he looked around, searching for the boy he had left sleeping on the bed. He put the crate down and entered the bathroom, but he wasn't there either. He returned to his bedroom just in time to see Heero slip out of the door onto the hallway. He could hear him running down the hallway.

Groaning he sprinted after him, but Heero surprised him, the boy was really fast and he could not catch up with him.

'Guards! Guards!' He yelled, he was beginning to get out of breath. They were now at the main stairs and He had trouble keeping up with Heero who seemed to almost fly over the steps. The two guards standing by the large frontdoor immediately ran up to the escaped slave and they both grabbed on of his arms, holding him. Heero kicked and screamed, trying to get them to let go of him, but the guards didn't budge and waited patiently for Duo to reach them.

Duo walked around him, so that he faced Heero. He wiggled his index finger from left to right in front of his face 'Naughty boy.'

The guards brought Heero back up again. As they came closer to his bedroom, Heero started to get wilder, desperate to escape. Duo opened the door for the guards who carefully dragged Heero in while he was screaming and kicking harder then before. Duo could sympathise, he had almost been free, he was caught just a few feet away from the doors that let to freedom. But how much was freedom worth in the middle of a desert? He wore no shoes and no shirt, the sun would burn him alive. The thought of Heero lying dead in the sand unnerved him.

He grabbed the wooden crate he had carried earlier and put it on the bed and opened it. While he emptied it, the guards put Heero on the sofa. They let him go, but each time he made a sudden movement, they grabbed his arms again. After a while Heero gave up, waiting for what Duo had in store for him.

Duo stood with his back turned towards Heero and the guards while he was carefully lifting the things out of the crate. While he was doing that he said: 'Undress him.'

The guards immediately obeyed and he could hear Heero protest with all his might but soon one of the guards came up to the bed and lay the black trousers, folded, on the bed.

Duo turned around, a mischievous look in his eyes. Heero gasped as he saw what he held in his hands. A drak blue collar, the same colour as his eyes. Duo walked up to him and told the guards to hold Heero down while he put the collar around his neck. It was a perfect fit. At the front were two small golden wings, between them a small golden loop. Duo went back to the crate to retrieve a thing, but strong, metal chain and fastened on end of it to the loop. Satisfied Duo looked down at his now most precious property. He pulled the chain softly, forcing the naked Heero to stand up and follow him. He fastened the other end of the chain to a hook on the wall near the fire place. The guards came up and lay a large red pillow on the ground in front of the fire place. The chain was long enough to allow Heero to lay down on the pillow and move a bit around. But it wasn't long enough for him to reach anything else, like the bed, the balcony, the bathroom or the sofa.

Heero pouted, trying to convince Duo that this wasn't needed with his best puppy eye look, since he knew the aggressive approach had no affect.

'Sorry baby, but I can't have you escaping. That would break my heart.'

Heero snorted loudly and looked away.

Duo grabbed his chin forcefully and made him look at him. He smiled and while he motioned with his hand for the guards to leave he kissed Heero's jawline and pointed nose. 'Besides, you look cute with that collar.'

Heero lashed out at him but Duo was able to jump back quick and fast enough to get out of Heero reach.

The slave yelped and held onto his throat when he pulled to hard and hurt himself.

He watched, feeling a bit sorry as Heero coughed and slowly slumped down on his pillow, chained to the wall like he was some kind of dog. Duo felt sorry, but he couldn't deny he liked seeing him like that, totally naked, the fire of the fireplace making his pale skin look rich and gold, the wings on his collar shining. He also liked the feeling of complete dominance over someone who might be able to beat him in a fair one-on-one fight.

He went downstairs to have dinner with his father. Complete silence reined. He tried to talk about his slave but his father brushed him off, he didn't want to hear about it. Since they were both quite talkative halfway through the dinner conversation rose. But it was about shallow things like the weather, the garden, the trouble his father had trying to satisfy the poor people. They had stormed the palace a month, they didn't even break through the gate in the wall surrounding the palace, but it was quite unnerving that the people were so sick of them that they crossed through the hot desert to storm them. Duo himself couldn't see why they were so mad, they didn't raise taxis and when it hadn't rained for so long that there was no food at all, his father bought loads of food from other countries to feed all his people. But it looked like his father knew more of the unsettling situation as he spent his days scooped up in his office, just thinking. He told himself to sneak into the office once to have a look at the documents that always littered the desk.

After dinner he filled a plate with leftovers (there was nothing wrong with these leftovers since the cook always cooked for ten, while it was only for him and his dad) and walked up to his room, when he entered heero was pulling on the chain as hard as he could, trying to free himself, but to no avail. He looked up, like a deer caught in a headlight when he heard him enter.

'I brought you some food.' Duo explained, holding the plate out to him, offering him the food. Heero snorted stubbornly, folded his arms across his chest and turned away.

'I'm not hungry.' He said.

'Now that's bull, come on, you have to eat.'

'Don't tell me what to do!' Heero screamed and he smacked against the plate, causing it to fall out of Duo's hands and fall on the floor. Miraculously, the china plate didn't chatter, but the food was spread out over the floor.

Duo looked down at the food and then back up at Duo. He could see the boy was fuming. The salesmen didn't lie when he said they called Heero most disobedient. He really was. Duo was just trying to be nice, trying to take care of him. Sighing, suddenly feeling really tired he let himself drop down on the soft bed. He began to think his father was right, that a disobedient slave was too much to handle for him, but he violently shoved the thought away. He would not give in so easily.

Curiously he opened his eyes when he heard soft sounds of movements. Heero didn't notice he was watching him as he crawled over to the plate, ditching his pride once again and started eating off the floor. Hungrily bringing the food up to his mouth with his hands, chewing quickly, stuffing as much in his mouth as he could. He smiled as he heard the boys stomach growl. He really was hungry, just as he had expected.

Hoping that their might be a little hope left he closed his eyes and slowly drifted to sleep. The last sounds he heard was Heero's desperate eating. Strangely he liked that. He liked the reassurance that Heero was still there after closing his eyes.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

He woke up to find Heero sleeping rather peacefully on his appointed pillow, the floor had been practically licked clean, the only thing remaining was the white plate. He smiled and cleaned up the plate. Going downstairs to have breakfast with his father, which was much like dinner only they served different food. They talked about the same things, making duo feel like he was caught in a sort of deja-vu as he found himself, again, thinking he should find out what was going on, what was on those documents.

Again he filled a plate, this time with bread, apples, strawberries and cream. This should be fun, he thought to himself, imagining Heero licking the cream off the ground if things took the same turn as last night.

He stood outside his bedroom door for a while. Listening, he thought he heard movement and some frustrated groaning, but when he opened the door, Heero just lay quiet on his pillow, facing the now burned out fire place. When he walked over to him, he say he was still sleeping, or at least pretending to be asleep. He placed the plate in front of him and entered the bathroom for a quick shower, he didn't feel like going through the long process of letting himself be bathed downstairs in the bathing quarters by the servant women.

When he came back, not longer then thirty minutes later the plate was empty and Heero sat huddled in a corner, looking at him like a mean cat ready to scratch his eyes out.

'Enjoyed breakfast?' He playfully asked.

Heero hissed, continuing to resemble a cat while he kept his deadly gaze fixed on Duo, following his motions.

Duo sat down on the end of the bed and stared back, grinning as Heero was the first to look away.

'You know,' he started, giving Heero a playful look, but the boy continued to ignore him, 'I didn't bought you so that I can watch you while you stubbornly sit in a corner.'

Heero looked fiercely at him and spat, with surprisingly good aim as his saliva hit Duo on the cheek. Groaning he wiped it off his face 'You really have to stop doing that!' he ordering, but he wasn't really angry, no matter how much he wanted to.

He let himself sag down to his knees on the floor and cautiously crawled towards Heero, ready to leap back if he attacked him, but Heero just sat completely still, watching him coming closer.

When he reached him he pushed the boy down on his back and climbed on top of him. He leaned down quickly and captured his lips, eagerly he pushed his tongue in, wanted to devour the beautiful slave. But that prove to be a wrong move. He screamed and pulled back when Heero suddenly bit down on his tongue. Hard. He was thankful he didn't chew it off but the pain in his mouth was almost unbearable. He stumbled back, out of Heero's reached and covered his mouth with his hand, moaning in pain.

'Whhhhhat he hhellll it ou zoo thhhat fo! (What the hell did you do that for!)' he demanded, his tongue throbbed and talking was near impossible now that his tongue started to swell.

'My ass is an exit, not an entrance!' Heero spat determinedly and crawled back to his corner.

Duo looked down at the hand he used to cover his painful mouth, expecting to see blood. He looked back up at Heero again and then into the mirror that hung on the wall above his nightstand. He stuck his tongue out, thank god it didn't seem serious. It was just swollen.

Angry he left the room, when he walked past his fathers office he heard him ask: 'Are you alright?'

'Ihm fie. (I'm fine)' He breathed out, strolling past quickly. He decided to take that long luxurious bath after all while he sipped a glass of water carefully to stop the swelling.

'What a bitch...' he muttered when he could finally talk normal again. Thinking over his actions. He had been quite forcing, but Heero was his slave, not his lover! If he wanted sex he had no right to deny him that, right? He groaned, suddenly realising he should have kept the mindless slave he had before Heero.

**You know the drill (Review, review, review )**

Crimson Waterfall 


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry I haven't been updating, this week was kinda hard on me... Never had the spare time to sit back and write. It drove me crazy!**

**Here is the result of my state of mind:**

Burning fire 

**Chapter four**

Duo watched from one side of the large bath at Heero, who was washing himself with a white cloth. He was extremely turned on, but not because the boy did it in such a sexy manner. In fact, it looked like he was in a hurry, but still... After being 'dry' for a week now and being a young man with needs he could not tear his eyes away from the tanned skin and lean body. And the dangerous looks Heero gave him once in a while, warning him that if he'd come closer he'll chop of something you need to make love, was, surprisingly, nothing more then a major turn on. With a little imagination he could turn the deadly gazes into passionate looks.

When the cloth disappeared underwater to clean the nether regions he could not contain his moan and scooted over to Heero. He came closer and closer. Heero's movements had stopped and he was looking deep into his eyes. Duo dared to risk it and closed the distance between them, putting his arm around Heero's shoulders, the other resting on his chest.

Heero's hands came up from under the surface, slowly and sensually sliding their way up Duo's arms.

YES! Duo inwardly screamed.

The hands, with their soft fingers, gave his shoulders a soft squeeze and then went further up, stroking his neck and for the first time he touched his throat without trying to strangle him, Duo excitement grew as Heero buried his long fingers in his chestnut tresses.

Duo smiled and lean closer to capture those pink, pouting, lips. What a change of behaviour! Only mere inches left, then their lips would finally touch each other after so many nights of longing, on Duo's side at least.

He gasped and tried to yell as the fingers on his head suddenly gave a lot of pressure. He was going to scream, but it only resulting in his taking in a mouthful of water as Heero pushed him under.

After a good twenty seconds, that felt like an eternity for Duo, the hands finally released his head and he immediately came back up and greedily sucked in a much air as he could. Breath Duo, just breath. He inwardly told himself.

Heero had stepped out of the bath and had protectively wrapped a towel around himself and now stood in a far corner, watching him like a wild animal. He suddenly realised how lucky he was Heero decided to let him go.

'Guards!' He called as soon as he had the strength to.

Two large guards came walking in, immediately searching for Heero.

'Bring him to my room, dress and chain him...'

'Yes milord.' They both said. They grabbed Heero who one slightly protested as they dragged him away.

Duo had to take a few deep breath to calm himself. To hush away the anger and the hurt that filled his heart.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

'Here, I brought you some food.'

Heero gave him and the food a poisonous look. Duo sighed and just put the plate down on the floor, within Heero's reach. Two entire weeks have gone by, days had progressed but there relationship didn't. Heero was just so stubborn! Thus far the only physical contact they had was Heero kicking him in the groin, Heero smacking him, Heero biting his tongue, again, and Heero biting his nose, Heero trying to drown him... Yes, the feisty slave was still the feisty slave and Duo was sick and tired of it. He was desperate, he wanted the boy so damn much but... well, he would risk life and limbs if he got within a meter of the younger boy.

He hated it, never in his life did someone dare to speak to him like Heero did. He called him names and hit him whenever he could. The haunting eyes of his slave even chased him in his dreams, turning them into horrifying nightmares and making his wake up in the middle of the night in cold sweat and panting.

He hated what Heero was doing to him. His beauty made him fall in love with him over and over again. He wanted to touch him, sometimes he would daydream about how it should be. Heero willingly accepting his kisses and love making. But the boy always violently shook him awake, screaming, biting, kicking, making him realise it was just a dream. He was losing sleep. He was afraid of him.

He hated Heero.

Groaning he fell, face down, on his bed and vaguely listened to Heero, quickly stuffing the food in his mouth. For some reason, even though Duo never harmed him, he always feared that Duo would take away his food. Other then that he was pretty bold. He talked, though not allowed. He spat, yes, he still did that. He kicked, he screamed, he bit.

He wanted his previous slave. He didn't care that he was emotionless, even while they had sex. He no longer cared that he followed him everywhere around at a precise two meter away from him. Even though Heero exceeded all the previous slave's beauty, for Heero was simply stunning, he felt like anything would do.

'What is it you want!' Duo yelled. Though his voice was muffled, died away in his thick sheats, Heero had obviously heard him. The sound of eating stopped suddenly and he could feel those piercing eyes on him.

'I want to be free!' Heero yelled. Duo groaned, he had only made him even angrier! 'I sit here the entire day! Chained like a dog!'

'Well you are no better then one!' Duo screamed as he came to sit upright. He was sick and tired. Heero's life was twenty times better with him then with that filthy salesman, what more did he want? He was a slave! 'You should know your place!' He finished and averted his eyes, anger was boiling within him, threatening to spill, he had to control the urge to get up on his feet and smack Heero, hard, against his cheek. He could not do that. His father had always treated his slaves with respect and so should he. But Heero was making it so damn hard!

'What makes you think you are any better then a dog! You are just a filthy, spoiled dog!' Heero lashed out at him like a cat, trying to hit him, but Duo quickly pulled back. Sexual frustration got the better of him and he jumped on Heero, sitting on top of him and pinning his arms down above his head.

Heero screamed and kicked and tried to roll over to get Duo off, it took all of Duo's force to contain him as the beautiful boy had grown stronger now that he got a descent meal everyday.

'Get off me!'

He just intensified his grip on the frail wrist and Heero screamed in pain, his body writhed beneath him. He freed his leg from under Duo's body and was able to flip them over. Surprised, Duo let go of the wrists, a mistake, the hands immediately flew to his throat and squeezed hard, but not hard enough to stop his air flow. Maybe Heero was just defending himself, trying to get Duo to stop hitting him in the chest, but Duo could not think sanely and their was a good chance he just wanted to see him turn blue and die. He kept on hitting the chest over and over again, Heero squeezed harder. Frightened he realised he sucked in his last breath. His vision blurred and the sounds of Heero's screaming faded away. Of course the screaming, which lasted longer and was louder then usual, caught the attention of the guards and he was still conscious as they pulled Heero free and threw him away like a ragged doll, rushing over to Duo, to try and save him.

The last thing he saw before drifting away was the face of his worried father. Worried, he had never seen him other then annoyed or angry...

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Opening his heavy lids he felt like he slept for a century, he could not will his body to move.

'Duo?'

He shifted his eyes towards the figure standing next to the bed he occupied. His father, with his eternal amethyst eyes and blonde hair looked down at him with concern.

'I told you this slave was a bad idea.'

Duo groaned and finally found the strength to move. He came upright and rubbed his sleepy eyes. Then scanned his room. Even after he tried to kill him, he still missed Heero, who had been present for the two weeks. He had gotten so used to waking up to find Heero, sitting cross-legged on his pillow, staring out of the window at the flourishing garden. But then again, that was the only thing about Heero he liked... and it wasn't anything major. As soon as he noticed his 'master' was awake he would turn into the evil slave who made his life miserable.

'Where is Heero?'

'He is dangerous, you should forget about him, I already made arrangement for a new, docile, slave. When the new slave shipment arrives we will-'

'You did not answer my question.' Duo forced and turned to look at his father, who could obviously not understand why he wanted to now.

'You could have died.' His father reminded him, but when he saw it had no effect on his ever stubborn son he finally answered: 'Downstairs, caged, gagged and bound.'

Duo wasn't sure if he should feel sorry for the boy or not, but the vision his father described did not make him happy.

'How long was I out?' He questioned as a wave of headache crashed over him when he stood up a little too fast.

'Only a few hours. Myrna said it was nothing serious, just some headaches from unconsciousness.'

Duo put pressure on his temples and it worked, the pain slowly subsided and he felt brave enough to open his eyes again and face the bright sunlight.

'Where are you going?' His father followed him down the hall, grabbing his wrist and pulling him back. 'I don't want you to go see that slut, it will just make you sympathise. You need to see that he will destroy you.' He urged but Duo knew he could not let him go. Heero might hate him. Heero might want to kill him. And HE might hate Heero and HE might want to kill Heero but he felt something for this exotic slave. Maybe it was just purely sexual but is was not about to let him go before finding out what that was.

Duo stubbornly left his father, standing in the hallway, shaking his head as he watched his son go downstairs.

Arriving he ushered the guards away and crouched down before the cage, looking in. Two pair of blue eyes watched his every move, showing no other emotion then curiosity.

'Now, I'm going to take those off,' he pointed to the rope that kept his hands and legs together and the cloth that was forced into his mouth, 'And then you are gonna tell me what it is that will make you a little more bearable. You can chose anything except: I want to be free. Okay? Because I am not letting you go.' His voice left no room for argument.

The slave seemed a little surprised by that statement and just watched as Duo opened the cage and unbound the rope and pulled the cloth out of his mouth.

Heero flexed his jaw and rubbed his wrists, before looking up to see Duo waiting. 'I want to go outside.' He simply said. No hostility, no anger, just a simple request.

Duo was happy to give Heero what he wanted.

**GOD! Why can't I ever get a chapter exactly the way I intended it! –rips pieces of hair out of her head in frustration- **

**It will just have to do**

**(and for those who think Heero and Duo finally made up... sorry... a wolf may lose it's teeth but never his nature)**

**Crimson Waterfall**


	5. Chapter 5

O.Forgetful.O I didn't knew someone was so eagerly waiting for my updates! I'm so flattered! Seriously though, thanks for the review and I hope i can make it up to you with this chapter. Thanks for getting me off my lazy ass! 3

Thank you for all the other wonderful reviews, it's the only reason why I even attempt to continue this fic, though it has some potential.  
Either way, Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you

(I'm just gonna ignore the one bad review (I mean REALLY bad). Jees, that someone can get so worked up about a story... I'm not gonna say something mean back, I'm better then that. Wait, now I did say something mean... aw well, the evil devil on my shoulder thought it felt good...)

Have fun/goodluck!

Warnings: short

Burning fire

Chapter five

'What?' Heero snarled as he noticed duo looking at him expectantly.

'A simple thank you would be nice.' He commented dryly. They had been outside for hours now. Walking though the beautiful garden connected to the palace. He had Heero leashed first, but after the slave had a fit about it he unleashed him, he could go nowhere with five meter high wall surrounding the oases. Currently they were stationed on a bench, on a small square, in the middle was a fountain and cages surrounded the square, containing exotic birds in rather large exhibits.

'Why should I thank you?'

'I'm the best master you will ever get.' He said with a smile.

Heero snorted and turned to look around, he took his time to glare at each and every single cage. 'Do you like that?'

Duo frowned, not understanding.

'Do you like caging wild animals? Robbing them of their freedom?'

'I don't get off on the idea that I caught them, if that's what you mean. But I like having them around. They are beautiful.' With that said he brought a hand up, taking a chance, and carressed the smooth cheek. Heero, for once, didn't hit him. He didn't response to the touch at all, but that was better then having him hit him in the crotch. He followed his gaze he to the beautiful, colourful, birds singing melodious songs. They didn't seem to be unhappy, but maybe Heero could sympathyse better. Of course he could. Duo had never experienced the feeling of being captivated.

'thank you.'

Surprise? Surprise! He was shocked! His heart skipped a beat, maybe even two! He had removed his hand from the cheek long ago, he now stared in shock, Heero was looking straight at him with a neatral expression. He wanted to lean in closer, maybe not to kiss, but he just wanted to get closer but Heero pushed him away.  
'that I thank you for taking me outside doesn't mean I like you all of the sudden. You are cocky, spoiled, annoying, selfish-'

Duo raised his grin. 'Would you stop if I told you I agree to all of that?'

Heero didn't say anything, he just whipped his head around and continued to stare at one cage in particular. Curious, he leaned in closer, with the excuse that he could follow the gaze better. He smiled as he saw his eyes were fixed on one of the largest exhibits, with the largest bird in it. The brown feathers of the animal glinstened gold in the sunlight that filtered through the leaves of the trees in it's cage. The goldeneagle returning their stares with a piercing glare of itself. He made a high pitched, scream like sound, and spread out it wings momentarily.  
With a smile he looked back at Heero. Surprised and a little frightened at seeing the expression of pure anger, the expression of rage on his perfect face. He almost didn't dare to ask, whenever his slave had THAT look in his eyes, he would suffer a great deal of pain.

'H-Heero?'

'Something that mighty and extraordinary should not be kept in a cage.' Heero said, rising from his seat. He gave his master a deadly look.

'I can't set it free, this is a desert, he will not survive.'

'I dare to bet you didn't found it hungry in the desert sand and decided you should help it.'

'You're right, he comes from the mountains far from here. He was a gift from a king from a neighbouring country. Catching an eagle is not an easy job, it's a very honourable gift.'

'Honourable? Putting it in a way too small cage! What exactly do you find honourable about that!'

Deciding that he didn't want to make matters worse he didn't answer the question, though it wasn't like he had an answer to it. He really didn't know. But not exepting a gift or setting it free would be insulting, but he knew the slave wouldn't understand that either. All he could sympathise with was the bird. 'We've been outside long enough, let's go back inside.'

Without any sound or protest Heero followed him inside. While walking up to the door he could see his father looking at them with unreadable eyes looking down from the balcony connected to his office. He pretented he hadn't even noticed and affectionately placed a hand on Heero's lower back as he led him inside. Thank god Heero took long enough to respond and push his hand away that they were out of his father's sight. He did not need to confirm the man about this all being a mistake.

'Wait.' He firmly said, freezing Heero halfway through the hallway. He turned around with an irritated expression that quickly turned lethal when he noticed duo was holding his leash, ready to once again fasten it to his collar.

'You're gonna have to trust me.' He said, but walked up to Duo none the less.

'You can't be trusted.' Duo stated matter-of-fact with a small smile and fastened the leash. 'There you go.'

Heero turned around and was about to leave but was pulled back quite violently by Duo, tugging on his leash. He glared at him. Duo gave him a warning look, once again trying to throw the master act, for once, it seemed to be working as his slave kept silent, but also stayed pissed. 'Remember that I am still your master.'

'You said you'd do anything to make my stay here more bearable.'

'Yeah, ONE thing. And you've chosen walks in the garden. So we will walk through the garden everyday from now on, to make it bearable.' He said with a grin. The nice feeling of power returned to him for the first time since he had Heero, noticing how the foreign boy restrained himself from doing whatever he truly wanted to do to Heero.

'In the garden? That will turn boring fast, there is not much to see between those encaging walls'  
'Then we'll take a ride with the camals through the desert.' He said with a smirk, tugging so that heero followed him back to his room 'See how you like that.' He finished. He hooked him to the wall and pointed at him as he immediately went to sit next to the fire place.

'Now don't try to escape while I shower.' He left, but returned seconds later with a smirk 'Or maybe you'd like to join me?' He laughed and quickly ducked his head as one of Heero's pilows flew towards his head. Surprisingly he wasn't even bothered with the small 'Asshole.' That followed. Their relationship was improving. There was a good chance Heero will never totally submit to him... but he had his ways of making him change his mind. He was hard all during his shower and even had the undecency to walk back into his room stark naked and still very much aroused. Heero followed his movements with his trademark crushing glare. Duo took extra long dressing, to show off his 'assets' a little better. He smiled secretively as he heard Heero snort.

'As if that's going to work...' He muttered and, totally not interested in the show, turned around to look outside.

Disappointed? Most certainly, but he couldn't contain his smirk. These walks were really doing Heero good...

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

'Don't even think about it.'

Duo stopped in his sneaking, hearing the growling voice. He sighed. He was almost there... so close. He had tried to sneak up on Heero, of whom he had assumed was sound asleep so that he would be able to place a goodnight kiss on his cheek. Soemthing he really longed for to do. Unfortunately Heero had more cunning ways of detecting him. Was there some sort of radar in his head that would set off an alarm as soon as he got close or something? It was beginning to get scary. They past the 'annoying-' point long ago.

With a sigh he returned to his bed. But he found he couldn't sleep. He heard Heero's breath evening out again, on that he based he was asleep the last time. Was he faking it? Was this a test? Was Heero testing him to see if he was worthy of his trust? That sounded so surprisingly logical to him that he said up, he could never ponder when lying down, it was too tiring. In the dark he searched for the bundle, consisting out of a little bit of Heero and a damn lot of pilows. It hit his with more force then a caravan of camals. He had been taking the wrong approach all this time. Of course Heero would never submit to someone with a power position. He had to treat him like an equal to earn his trust and respect, after that they could work out the entire master/slave relationship. He grinned, looking at the bundle. Heero, I got you all figured out...

He jumped out of bed once again as he saw the curtain move in the wind that came in through the open window and saw what it did to his precious bundle. After rummaging around a bit he walked up to him, at the same distance at before a warning growl was heard and then a sleepy: 'what are trying to accomplish? Are you-' He fell silent as he felt a blanket being draped over him with gentle care.

'You were saying?'

'This better not be yours...' He muttered in return, still keeping up the tough act... if it was an ACT that is...

'Do you allow me to kiss you goodnight now?'

'Try and you'll eat through a straw for the rest of your life.'

Okay, so maybe he was rushing a bit, but you can't blame a guy for hoping. Without any further ado he left him allone, returning to his comfy bed. He wished that the day Heero would sleep next to him to keep him warm, would come soon. But he highly doubted it.

Short chapter I now, gomen, gomen, gomen. But it's better then no chapter at all... at least I think it is. It was hard to get started again, cause I was a bit stuck, as you can see I skipped a bit, not in time but in the change of character. The Heero from the previous chapter would have tried to suffocate Duo with the blanket... which could have been nice too... for Heero. But anyway I didn't know how to continue with Heero being the ever badass. So there is light improvement, but he ain't done bitching yet. He still has some revenge plotting going on in his pretty little head... mwuhahahahahahaha.  
Don't worry, I'm taking pills for that ; )  
And yes, I do realise that Duo had an extreme makeover as well but there is just something so wrong about Duo being depressed and confused... while at the same time I enjoy it...

You know me, you know how it works

Till next time!

CW 


	6. Chapter 6

**I thought it would be time for more Burning Fire, so here ya have it. It's short, but I guess it's kinda cute. I just want Heero's and Duo's relationship to improve more, because they have to at least be on semi-friendly terms before i can really get moving with the story.**

**And as always: If anyone out there has suggestions, tell me.**

**PS: this chapter is a test. A test! Yes, a test. What kind of test? I'll tell you at the end of the chapter...**

**Burning Fire**

**Chapter 6 (I just realised I entitled my chapters as: prologue, 1, 2, 4, 5... but who really cares?)**

'Is there something special?'

Duo stopped in his movement to turn his head to face Heero with a surprised expression. No, more like gawking at him as they hadn't spoken to each other for two days, after, what he now called, the blanket-incident. Maybe Heero hadn't appreciated it or was touched by his gesture, he didn't know. All he knew was that the boy had been effectively ignoring him. But now he was looking up at him with his vibrant, wise, blue eyes, taking in his posture as he took his time getting dressed, wearing the royal clothes his father wished he wore more often. Because he never wore them, Heero must have found it suspicious.

'Dinner with my father.' He answered simply, not quite telling him the entire story.

Heero cocked his head, noticing, observant that he was, that Duo was hiding something. Besides, there was nothing special about the prince having dinner with his father, he did that everyday. Without saying a word he kept looking at him, using his eyes only he tried to force the rest of the explanation out of him.

Duo sighed, after finishing getting dressed he turned completely, not just his head, to look at Heero, hands on his hips as he took in his slaves appearence. Simple slacks and a white button-up that would be comfortable while sitting on the ground, as he spent most of his day doing just that. 'WE are going to have dinner with my father.'

The cold eyes remained the same. He wasn't sure if the non-existing reaction was positive or negative.

'Did you hear me?' Without waiting for an answer he walked to his closet and placed the clothing he took out on the bed. A dark blue, sari (1) like outfit, which was a semi-traditional slave outfit. It was a sort of 'uniform' for the higher ranked slaves. Sex slaves like Heero were supposed to wear simple, barely covering, white outfits, but he wanted and needed to treat Heero with more respect than that.

Heero raised his eyebrows but remained passive otherwise. 'You never invite me for dinner.' He comments.

'I know. But I thought it was time.'

'Sex-slaves shouldn't eat with their masters.' Their was slight disgust in his voice, it must have been hard for him referring to himself as such a slave and referring to Duo as a master. He never called him master and Duo had no doubt he never really thought of him as his master.

'Did we have sex then?' He questioned mockingly, smirking.

Heero fixed his eyes on the clothing, pretending he didn't hear Duo's last comment. In a very uncharacteristic manner he reached out a hand and brushed his fingertips across the surface of the smooth cloth, lingering before letting the hand drop to his side. He remained seated on the ground. Maybe he new the ranking this suit would give him.

The last person Duo had seen wearing a slave outfit similar to the one he was handing Heero right now, was when he was young. The man, a slave of his father, always took care of him. The slave was more of a father to him than his real father could ever hope to be. As they got older he also saw the man as a friend. Sadly he died four years ago, age was wearing on him. But while wearing this suit, he, after Duo and his faster, had the highest ranking in the palace, since Duo's mother died when giving birth to him.

To speed up the proces Duo lifted the sari off the bed and placed it into Heero's lap. 'Change.' He ordered with a kind smile and then turned around, giving Heero some privacy, but not enough to let him think he was in control. He smiled secretively as he heard Heero undress. His plan was working, Heero was actually obeying him! Though the suit did him no harm, the Heero he knew would not wear it just because Duo had told him to.

Mutual respect, he gathered. He turned around as he felt a hand on his shoudler, signaling him that Heero was done. His eyes must have sparkled as he took in Heero's appearence. He looked absolutely stunning in the clothing that matched the colour of his intense eyes. He looked feminine, yet the stern look on his face was a clear indocator to not mess with him. He had chosen this Sari on purpose, as it was tighter than normal Sari's for slaves should have been. But he didn't want to hide Heero's magnificant body under a significant piece of cloth.

'You look beautiful.' He commented, breathless, eyes hungrily raking over him. Oh how much he wanted to wipe that scowl of his face while burrying hismelf in his, no doubt, tight body...

Heero seemingly remained unaffected by the charming comment, just looking up at him with a neutral expression.

'Let's go.' He held out his arm, wanting Heero to hook his arm in his, but he didn't, so he settled for Heero simply following him downstairs to main dinner hall.

On entrance he saw his father already sitting at one end of the extremely long white marble table. He sat down at the far end across from him, Heero sat down at his right side after him gesturing to do so.

'Why didn't your slave bow for me?' Came his fathers disapproving voice.

'Because i didn't tell him to do so.' Duo replied smugly.

Dinner was served while they remained in total silence. Duo was really surprised by Heero actually becoming the almost perfect slave as he didn't reach for the food untill Duo told him to do so. He also watched carefully what Duo ate and if, for instance the salad on his plate ran out he would give him more, all the while remaining silent and not once responding to his fathers tries to lure Heero out and get him upset.

'So Duo, tell me, how does this slave fuck? Is he tight?'

Trust his dad to get over his homophobia for the cause of testing Heero. He was more than surprised to find out Heero kept his cool, not even looking up from his plate as he continued to eat. He mentally smiled and patted both himself as Heero (mentally) on the back. This mutual respect thing was working better than he had ever thought!

'In fact, Father, we have yet to consume our relationship.' He replied, pretending to own all the wisdom in the world as he looked up at his father with a smug smile. He kept up a straight face, even as Heero kicked him under the table, not willing to submit to him just yet.

His father simply snorted and then resumed eating. He had passed the test. There came no more rude comments, no more inappropriate questions. Just thick, slightly uncomfortable silent, just as they were used to. They were both no big talkers (big surprise there huh!), though that didn't mean they were on bad terms. Duo was actually quite able of loving his father, IF he didn't emarrass him in front of the slave who's heart he had been trying to conquer.

Within the hour they were back into the room Heero had now spent many days in. Sitting in his room in silence for one hour after dinner, on the edge of his bed while Heero was silently sitting on his pillow in front of the fireplace, Duo reckoned he'd go crazy if he had to spend days locked up in here. He promised himself he'd do more... exciting things with Heero (not all sex-related) as soon as the boy let him. Because sitting here all day surely couldn't be helping Heero's mood...

'You were very obedient.' He commented, with his other slaves he would've now scratched their chins, rewarding them for their good behaviour, but he didn't quite dare to with Heero. His sharp teeth would be a little to close to his hand for his liking. 'Why?' He added.

Heero shrugged, looking at the fireplace one of the servants had just come in and lightened. 'To annoy your father. He would have loved it for me to lose it.'

Duo chuckled, that was true. 'Why did you want to annoy my father?'

Heero slowly turned and pinned him with his gaze 'Because he is to you what you are to me. A master. Somebody you have to obey.'

Duo smiled sadly 'I guess he is. But he isn't as strict as he lets on...'

'Still, I can sense you want to please him very badly, despite what YOU let on.'

'I didn't know you were so perceptive. You are right, he wasn't quite happy finding out I liked boys when I requested a male slave... I've been trying to make it up to him.' Carefully, keeping a watchful eye on Heero he slid off the bed and ended up sitting close next to him. Heero kept staring him into the eyes, but didn't physically harm him, which caused him to mentally sigh in relief, but he did scoot over a bit, enlarging the space between them. Disappointing but not discouraging.

'What would you say if I told you I find you extremely hot, a major turn on and I want to sleep with you?'

Heero looked at him with a neutral expression on his face, though there was something sparkling in his large eyes and the corner of his mouth twitched as he said with a monotone voice: 'I'd say: Do you have a death wish?'

Duo couldn't help himself and burst out in laughter, throwing his head back, enjoying the rumble that went through his chest. He should have expected an answer like that! It made him laugh and maybe even feel a little more secure knowing it was still the same Heero he was dealing with. Though they had both changed since he bought him four months ago (2). It was gradual, but at least there was some change...

They spent a long time watching the flames, though that wasn't what made Duo feel hot... he really needed to have sex... or at least masturbate...

**(1) If you don't know what it is you should look it up at google or something, I can't really explain it without making a fool out of myself ; )**

**(2) I have no idea if this is correct in comparison to the timeline in the other chapters, I totally forgot and like you know: I'm lazy, so i don't feel like looking it up. But it sounds plausible. **

**With that settled...**

**I was talking about a test. You see, I'm a lazy son of a bitch I'll give ya that much. So I don't check my story for spelling errors. I also didn't with this one. Now I want to ask all the lots of you out there: How bad was my spelling?**

"**Not bad at all" (not very likely)**

"**I can live with it"**

"**Annoying"**

"**UNREADABLE! A MESS!" (In case of this one, answer D: Is anybody interested in being my personal beta-assistant? (someone to beta my stories)... Isn't as bad as it sounds. I'm looking for someone that can spell (at least better then I can) and is willing to do it for free... cuz i'm kinda broke.)**

**Remember: be honest, I won't kill you... I might just not right for six months, feeling very sorry for myself... ; )**

**Sandileina: I don't know if there is a disconnection, either technically or phycologically, but I didn't hear any response from you. So I take that as a no... Sorry, don't be insulted by me looking for someone else...**

Okay, with that out of my system: GOODNIGHT! HUGS AND BIG FAT SLOPPY KISSES! 

**C.W.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Ahain not checked for spelling errors as my beta reader has yet to respond na d I just HAD to post it**

**Burning fire**

**Chapter 7**

'Good morning.' His father formally said, only briefly looking up as his son walked into the dining room early in the morning.

'Morning.' Duo retorted, not making eyecontact. He sat down at the far end of the table, far away from his father, as he always did. It was the appropriate thing to do, it was what his father had taught him. Servants walked in and placed plates in front of him, all wishing him a good morning.

'Why didn't you join me for dinner this entire week?'

Duo looked up from his plate, fork in mid air. He stared at his father, who was not even looking at him, for a while before serving himself a bite. Only after did he answer matter-of-factly: 'I've been having dinner with Heero.'

His father raised his eyebrows. 'Really?' he asked sceptically.

Duo sighed. 'Listen, I'm happy to leave you alone again!' He was already preparing to leave the room, but finally he got his fathers attention and they made eyecontact.

The man called out: 'No!' He composed himself and motioned for his son to sit down again. As Duo sat, he scraped his throat and apologised. 'I... I am truly sorry. I am your father and I should be there for you. I am trying to show interest.'

Duo gave him his strangest stare.

'Please... how- how is it going between you and... and uh-'

'Heero?' Duo offered.

'Yes, Heero, of course.'

Duo shrugged, not really knowing what to make of his fathers strange, fatherly behavior. Wasn't his father supposed to hate him and ignore him, like he had done ever since Heero joined them in the desert palace?

'I am just trying to help. I've raised many slaves as you might know, I could... help...'

His frown deepened, but he decided to humor his fatehr and asnwered honestly: 'Well, I thought that we would get closer if we had dinner together. But that was a wrong assumption. He hasn't said a word... Well, that's not true, he called me a dickhead, a bastard, a brat and some things I don't feel comfortable repeating.'

'In other ways: Your soft approach isn't working?' He father pointed out, looking at Duo's black eye. They had established before that heero had a powerful right, which he had reminded Duo of yesterday when Duo was trying to coax him into joining him in the bed.

Duo snorted 'Like the hard approach would work. Heero does not take being gagged and bound very well, you should know.'

'A month ago, no, he didn't.' His father answered, 'But he has gotten used to the leash, hasn't he?'

'Yeah, so?'

His father smirked. 'I might have an idea.'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

He walked past the guards into his room. His heart skipped a beat when he noticed the bedroom area was deserted. His heart calmed however when he noticed the gentle sound of running water coming from the shower. With no sense of shame at all and a huge grin on his face, he walked past the red curtain into the bathroom area to get a good look at his slave cleaning himself in a curtainless shower. Feeling bold, Duo whistled appreciatively.

Heero turned around with the look of a wild animal, when he noticed his 'master' standing in the middle of the damp bathroom he was quick to cover his most private parts with his hands. He tried to glare at the cocky man, but the situation was so awkward that he couldn't pull it off. 'You... you... Argh! Turn around!' he ordered.

Duo just stood there, hands on his hips, wearing his trademark grin as he continued to stare.

Heero sighed dramastically and motioned for him to turn around but as he expected, Duo did not obey to his silent order. Lost, he looked around, trying to find something to cover himself with, but the towel hung on a rack very close to Duo, very far away from the shower.

Following heero's stare Duo walked over to the rack and grabbed the towel. 'You want this?'

Heero nodded and reached out one hand, being very careful to not reveal any more, even thought Duo already had a good eyeful.

Duo looked at Heero with a wanton gleam in his eyes and then turned to look at the towel. 'Okay.' He pulled the curtain to the bedroom away and threw the towel onto the bed. He smiled as it landed right in the middle. If Heero wanted it, he had to climb onto the bed to get it. 'Go get it.' He looked back at his slave with a smirk. 'And you better hurry up, I have plans for today.'

Heero stared at him and then at the curtain that led to the bedroom. He groaned. 'You are unbelievable!' He stepped out of the shower and walked past Duo.

Duo fixed his appreciative eyes onto Heero's bottom as the boy walked to the bed and climbed onto it, giving his master a nice angle. He moaned teasingly, earning a destructive glare from Heero who was wrapping the towel around his slim waist, muttering another: 'Unbelievable...' under his breath.

'So,' Heero said as he walked to the closet and took the liberty of taking out a set of clothes, his usual black attire.

Duo shook his head, walking over he pulled the clothes out of Heero's hands.

Heero kept a suspicious gaze fixed on Duo as the older, taller man rummaged through the closet and straightened back up with in his hands white loose pants and a white, loose, long sleeved T-shirt.

'Why?' Heero questioned as the clothes were pushed into his chest.

'Oh wait, you'll need this too.' Duo said, handing him a large scarf.

Heero's questioning gaze was enough to make Duo explain: 'You wrap it around your head.' He reached up a hand and gently tucked on some wet strings of hair hanging across Heero's forehead. 'your dark hair will heat up very fast under the burning sun. We don't want to boil your brain.'

Heero frowned but Duo didn't say any more. He smugly sat down on the bed and watched, hoping that Heero would dress in front of him, but that was too much to ask for. He watched disappointedly as the younger man disappeared into the bathroom behind the thick curtain.

Duo rose and walked over to the balcony. Looking down he saw his servants and guards preparing for the trip his father had organised for him and Heero.

Moments later Heero emerged in all white, the scraf hanging limply in his hands. The loose clothing wasn't really complementing his lithe frame, but it was necessary to wear comfortable clothing for their trip today.

'Come on.' Duo motioned for heero to follow him. They walked down the stairs, he could feel Heero's curiosity. Once in the hall he abruptly turned around, holding up Heero's leash.

Heero groaned but didn't object as Duo fastened the leash to the color that was permanently around his slim neck. He smiled, seeing Heero's frown, the boy must have noticed the leash was thicker and stronger than his usual leash. He hooked Heero the wall and waited for his servants to walk up to him and drape a long beige coat over his shoulders. Three guards joined them in a similar attire, one of them grabbed Heero's leash and pulled him along quite roughly. Duo had to refrain himself from calling out to the guard, ordering him to be more gentle with his object of affection, but he remained silent as his father had advised him to and followed the three and Heero outisde into the sweltering heat of the desert sun. He started to sweat immediately and had the urge to rip the coat off his shoulders, but he knew that was not wise. Any flesh left uncovered would be scorched. He covered his head with the hood of the coat, cating his face in shadows. He watched as the stubborn Heero now wrapped the scraf around his head, creating the same effect as Duo's hood.

He would have loved to see Heero's face as they went through the thick steel door out into the open. Nothing but sand as far as they could see. A few meters away from the wall five camals, one with a large package, covered with a cloth, on it's back, lay waiting in the hot sand.

Duo climbed mounted the first, used to it he wasn't at all caught off balance as the large animal wobbily rose to it's feet. Two of the three guards climbed onto the other two camals, the third much to Heero's obvious surprise, took Heero's leash and tied it to the saddle of the fourth camel, he himself climbed onto the fifth. As the camels slowly started to walk Heero called to Duo, who was unresponsive. One guard took the lead and like a small caravan they slowly headed into the outstretched desert. Duo felt really sorry for the young man who, despite the slow pace of the camels, had trouble keeping up. He could imagine sand getting into his shoes and the loose sand was difficult to walk on when you only had two feet planted on the ground.

'Couldn't spare an extra camel you cheap bastard!' Heero called.

Duo didn't look back, just like his father had instructed. He wasn't sure if his father was at home now, laughing because he stupidly took his advise or if his want to help was genuine. But it sounded logical. If Heero thought they were gonna drag him all the way back to the harbor, Heero knew his father had wanted to send him back ever since the 'incident' that almost got the heir of this kingdom killed. However, he wasn't totally listening to his father. In the large package, carried by the fourth camel, was a surprise for Heero that might just make this trip, even by foot, worth his while. It was his fathers idea to let him walk the first half to the city and let him ride along the second half. But he wasn't headed for the city. He had a better idea.

'Duo!' Heero whined after a good hour. He had kept his dignity for a longer period of time than Duo had expected, if it had been him being dragged along, he would have begun begging after fifteen minutes. He didn't respond to it though.

'Duo... please, I'm hot!' He called out.

I already knew that, he thought with a smirk, referring to a different kind of hot than Heero was. He looked back briefly to see the boy struggling, wiping sweat off his forehead. He turned back again.

'Duo!'

'You've been a very disobedient slave.' He retorted with a serious tone of voice, even though he wanted to burst out in laughter. He could imagine the look of panic on the face of his beautiful slave by now. Heero had no doubt gotten used to the luxious lifestyle in the palace, there were slave much less fortunate than Duo. In fact, every master in this kingdom had less than Duo. He was the son of the king no less.

'Duo please!' He called in a desperate tone.

Duo felt his heart clench, he had never heard Heero like that. Once in a while one of the guards would fall back to hand Heero a bottle of water and let him take a sip. The first three times Heero did not accept. The fourth time he greedily took the bottle, discarding his pride and emptying it in only a few gulps.

Duo was really starting to get concerned and even though his father told him to drag Heero about for half of the journey, he knew his heart was not stony enough to let this continue any longer. He raised his hand and called out some orders to the guards in his old native language, a language he almost never spoke, a language he knew Heero didn't understand. He looked back to see the confused expression on the face of his love as the caravan came to a halt in the middle of the hot desert, dunes around them, far, far away, just reaching above the horizon, mountains could be seen. But even Duo, who had been in the desert many times, wasn't sure if it was more than a fata morgana.

With a few tugs and curt orders the camel he was seated on sunk to the hot ground. The animal didn't seem the least bit bothered to get into contact with the hot sand. He climbed off and called his guards, standing close to them he whispered a few more orders to them, once in a while, to finish the act, he looked back at Heero, who was trying to get as close to them as possible. But didn't get far, he short leash kept him close to the stubborn camal that, no matter how much Heero tried, refuged to move.

The guards nodded and headed towards Heero, two of them grabbed an arm each while the third undid the knot that connected the leash with the saddle. Heero looked utterly exhausted and very, very scared. Again he resembled an animal, willing to do just about anything to survive. Suddenly, it seemed to dawn to Heero and he shot a look at Duo who watched from afar.

'You're gonna leave me here!' He asked with a rasped voice. 'You're gonna abandon me in the desert!'

Duo didn't respond, he just stared at him from under his hood.

Heero's eyes widened and struggled against the guards, kicking and screaming. 'You bastard! BASTARD! You can't just DITCH me here!'

The guards merely tightened their grip on him till the third had a good grip on the shortened leash. The other two let go and mounted their camels again. Duo walked towards him, standing next to it.

Heero's eyes widened to the point Duo feared the beautiful orbs would fall out of their sockets as the slave saw the two guards ordering their camels to rise.

'NO!' He stomped his heel down onto the toe of the big guard that was holding him.

Caught of guard and surprised the large man let him go and suffered another kick in the crotch, within seconds Heero sprinted towards Duo in utter depseration.

A guard quickly jumped off his camel and intervened. Grabbing Heero mere meters zway from the expressionless prince.

Duo was shocked to see Heero was actually crying.

With tears running down his red cheeks he gave up on struggling and called: 'I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I've been bad! I'll be good from now on! Just don't dump me here!'

Duo ordered the guard to step back and before Heero sank to his knees he stepped up to him and wrapped his arms around the exhausted, crying young man. He almost felt that letting Heero suffer like this was all worth it when he was finally able to hold him. But he realised very well to never take up on his father's advise ever again. It wasn't supposed to get this far.

'It's okay Heero...' He sighed, a little content as he was able to run a free hand through the sweaty brown hair. 'I wasn't going to leave you here...'

Suddenly, two hands were planted against Duo's chest and he was pushed away by a now tearless Heero, angrily staring up at him. 'It wasn't?'

'Uhm... no. It was my fathers idea to uh...' he almost didn't dare to finish as he saw the murdering look in Heero's eyes. 'To make you submit.' He groaned as Heero hit his chest. He was quick to raise his hand, silently ordering the alert guard to not interfere.

'You bastard! This was just a game!'

'Well, i think it taught us something very important.'

'That your a heartless, idiot?' Heero retorted.

Duo smiled as, beneath the surface, all he could see in Heero's eyes was relief. 'That and that you care for me, why else did you get all emotional?' another hit to the chest.

'Maybe because I didn't want to die!'

He grabbed the pointed chin and lifted Heero's face, looking at him with a gentle smile. 'Heero, we have a serious communication problem if you really think I was going to dump you. You won't get rid of me that easily...'

Heero pulled his head free and looked the other way. After a few moments of silence, only filled by tha panting of the short slave, Heero asked, humor hinting in his voice: 'Do I have to walk all the way back?'

'Back! Heero, our trip has yet to finish.' He pulled a surprised Heero onto his camel and got seated in front of him. With a tug on the reign the camel stood and strolled on through the desert, the guards coming after them.

'Where are you taking me, dick?' Heero asked after a while, after he had calmed down and had a refreshing drink.

'Dick?'

'You deserved that.'

Duo laughed and shook his head, still feeling estatic about the fact that Heero's arms were around his waist as they rode. 'It's a surprise.'

'I don't like surprises.'

'Yeah, I think we've just established that.' Duo joked, earning another punch on the back.

They travelled many more hours through the desert, picking up their pace as they were now all seated on camals. Heero was quick to observe they were headed for the mountains far ahead, nearing them faster than expected as they seemed so far away.

A good eleven, silence hours later they arrived at the feet of the mountains surrounding the desert, another hour was spent walking through a pass that led into the colossal grey mountains, leaving the sand landscape behind them, as well as the camels, as they didn't want to risk hurting them in a fall.

It took two guards to carry the package the camel had been hauling before. The third guard stayed behind to watch said animals.

'Beautiful, isn't it?' Duo asked as they came higher and higher and had a pretty nice view on the mountains and the valleys.

Heero didn't answer, merely looking around. Duo could imagine the exotic boy planning an escape now that the guards were occupied, but he never bolted, following Duo up naother pass.

'Are we almost there, wherever 'there' may be?' Heero quastioned as he noted the sun was setting.

'Almost.'

Finally they had reached a cliff, in the valley down below a river flowed and on the other side the landscape of mountains stratched further. Duo barked a few more orders at the struggling gyards who were finally allowed to put whatever it was they carried down.

'This is your surprise.' Duo said, walking over to the meter and a half tall package.

Heero flinched when whatever it was that was being kept inside let out a chilling shreek, a shreelk that sounded strangely familiar, as he had heard it many times before, or so he suspected.

Duo smiled as he grabbed the brown cloth, looking at Heero he quickly pulled it away and watched Heero surprised expression as he revealed the metal cage under it. Kept inside the cage was the magnificant golden eagle, who shreeked again after being in the dark for the entire day.

Heero fixed his surprised gaze on Duo as the prince grabbed two big, brown gloves out of another bag one of the guards carried. He handed one of them to the shellshocked Heero, putting on the other himself and then opening the cage. He put his arm inside and coaxed the heavy bird out. It's claws gripped his glove protected arm and Duo even struggled to lift it out. 'Twelve punds.' Duo explained as he walked up to Heero. 'Wing span more than two meters...' He locked gazes with his slave. 'You are right, he shouldn't be kept in a cage.'

'You're... gonna set it free?'

'No.'

Heero seemed disappointed.

'You are.' Duo finsihed with a smile and motioned for Heero to put on the glove. Holding their arms together it didn't take long before the eagle stepped onto Heero's arm, who was obviously surprised at the weight and the grip of the claws.

'Wha- what do I do?'

'Just go stand on the edge and thrust your arm forward, then he'll fly away and hopefully won't return, which I expect, since it's still a wild bird.'

Heero did as insturcted, standing on the edge of the high cliff sharing a look towards the horizon with the eagle, before forcing the bird off his arm he whispered something Duo was sad not to be able to hear. Then, he powerfully thrust his arm forward as Duo told him to and the eagle jumped off, spreading it's wings and flapping them. After a few strokes, strong mountain winds were enough to keep him in the air and he was zuik to depart towards the setting sun.

Duo walked up to heero, who seemed to be in trance, watching him leave with a strange look in his eyes. 'What did you say to him?'

'To fly for the two of us.' Heero answered, referring to the eagle and himself.

'Ah...' Duo smiled.

'What are you smiling about?'

'I was just thinking that the sun is setting and I didn't get any additional bruises today.' Duo laughed at him own joke and felt very victorious as he caught the small smile on Heero's lips.

After a long moment of comfortable silence as they gazed towards the shrinking black dot in the air, Heero softly said: 'If you think this is going to change anything, you're wrong. I still hate you.'

Duo smiled, looking lenthily at Heero. 'I know. I hate you too.'

**Wow, I actually did pretty good, the second story updated today... Though this time I won;t make any promises about the future.**

**I hope ya'll liked this story, I thought it was time for a little less hostility. Now that I think of it, maybe it was a bit exagerated that Heero went beserk, but I won't change it because I'm afraid I will screw up the only work (story whise) that I've gotten done for the past month.**

**Eternal love,**

**Sappy Crimson Waterfall**


	8. Chapter 8

**I owe Jessy, my beta reader, for the correct spelling and grammar. Come on people, everyone that can bear MY grammar and turn it into something legiable deserves an aplause!**

**demonlady61636 Thank you for offering, but as you can see, there is no need. I was just fussing about nothing. I do that sometimes ;) I really am grateful though!**

Burning Fire 

**Chapter 8**

"How did he respond?" His father questioned, meeting Duo in the hall just outside Duo's bedroom, Heero safely locked inside.

Duo gave his father an icy glare.

"What?" He asked innocently.

"He cried, okay, he cried! He thought I was going to leave him in the desert!" His eyes narrowed as he heard his father snicker. "You bastard! This was your great plan to drive me and Heero further apart, wasn't it!" He demanded.

His father shook his head. "No, that was not my intentions, I wanted to show you a way to make a disobedient slave submit. Make him desperate, it is how your mother finally gave into me."

Duo's eyes widened as he stared a hole into his father forehead. Then, once   
he had composed himself he shot daggers at him with his eyes. Almost  
screaming, on the verge of tears he confronted his father. "So you never saw her as any more than a slave!"

"Of course not... Once a slave, always a slave. Your mother was once just as hateful as Heero, but that all changed when I took her into the desert."

"You bastard!" Duo lashed out, his fist connecting with the cheek of the older man. The two guards standing in the hallway were unsure of what to do.

The king pretended he didn't even feel his now throbbing cheek and fixed his gaze on his panting son. "How dare you..."

"It'no wonder she died so young, with you messing around with her like that! And here i thought you loved her!"

"Duo, don't be stupid, you can't fall in love with a slave! A slave isn't even a proper human being."

Duo snorted angrily and clenched his fists at his sides. "Why I never killed you in your sleep is beyond me. You didn't deserve her."

His father merely shrugged, not in the least bothered or so it appeared. "You go play with your slave, do as you please. I did once love your mother, or so I thought. But at night she stabbed with me a knife. That's how I got that scar in my chest."

"You said you got that in battle." The amethyst eyed boy charged.

His father laughed. "I've never been to battle! No, it was your mothers doing. And it was then, that I realized something I wanted to make you realize as well, slaves will never return your love and they will never be worth your trust. Besides, you've never met your mother, you don't know what kind of a bitch she was..." With that he strode past his son, head held up high like the proud king he was. He left a fuming Duo behind in the hallway, who watched his leave with a face burning with bordering rage.

Not being able to compose himself enough, he stomped back into his bedroom and disappeared in the bathroom, not even looking up to see Heero's reaction. He opened the faucet and washed his face with cold water. He filled the sink with the cold liquid and almost drowned himself in it, coming up at the very last moment gasping for air. Calmer now he straightened, looking in the mirror he saw, besides his own dripping face, Heero leaning against the doorframe, looking at him with unreadable eyes. Without saying a word he silently left Duo alone, seconds later the prince could hear his slave sitting down on his cushions in front of the fire place.

For a few more moment he stood in front of the sink, leaning on it, his hands powerfully gripping the edges. He was so angry with his father for saying all those things about his mother. He had heard only wonderful things about her from the other servants and slaves, according to them she was nothing short of an angel. And he was more capable at believing them than his traitterous father. It angered him even more that his father didn't even seem to care... He didn't care how much his son hated him, he didn't care how much his wife hated him. That made him a truly heartless man.

Walking back into the room he saw what he expected, Heero sitting on the cushions, staring out of the large windows, past the balcony into the garden. Without speaking he walked over to Heero, who pretended not to know of his presence. He gentle grabbed the black collar around his slave neck and unhooked the leash. He would show his father, Heero could be trusted. Right?

He wanted his father to be wrong so badly, but at the same time he realized very well that Heero could, indeed, never be trusted. The fire burning in his blue eyes reflected his soul that refused to be tamed.

Heero slowly turned to look at him with an empty expression, better than the angry one he had had ever since they came back from that horrid 'trip'.

"Heero, could you please go out to the balcony, I need some... privacy."

A few seconds longer all he received was that empty stare. Then suddenly a curt nod. Heero rose to his feet and walked over to the balcony, opening the large glass door and closing it behind him.

Duo knew that if Heero risked the ten meter drop to the grass below, he wouldn't get far with the many guards in the garden. Certain that Heero wouldn't run off he closed the thin curtains and lay down on the bed on his back, staring up at the decorated ceiling of his room. For a good long few moments his mind was totally blank and it calmed him down.

Turning his head he gazed through the thin curtains to see Heero's silhouette leaning against the thick stone banister of the fairly large balcony, looking far away. He stared as the wind played with the short, dark brown hair, whipping it around a shapely face. He had mixed feelings. Each time he looked at Heero, he felt so blessed to have the boy in his life, but his hope and happiness would always be crushed... by Heero's fist mostly... He hated to admit it, but his father, may God condemn his soul to hell, might just be right. Heero will never be obedient and maybe he was just wasting his time with him...

A knock on the door caused him to sit upright, staring at it for a moment before calling out: "Come in."

His father strode inside, making Duo glare and his heart pound with anger.

"I took the liberty of inviting some old friends..." His father informed.

Duo narrowed his eyes.

"Sir Romefeller, I'm sure you remember him."

Duo almost panicked. "What!" He called, and his father just smirked.

He frowned but then realized his father was doing it on purpose. "Will you never stop? You know Romefeller will raise hell!"

His father shrugged carelessly and fixed his gaze on the boy standing on the balcony, his back still turned towards father and son inside the room. "It was your own mistake to release the bird Romefeller gave to us." He pointed out.

"If you hadn't invited him he would have never found out." Duo snapped back. "This man visits once every twelve years or something. You are risking a war between two nations?

His father shook his head, smiling with a secret wisdom. "No, I'm not. You know Romefeller, an eye for an eye. That bird was very precious to him. Now, he'll want something precious of yours." His father looked outside at Heero again.

Duo followed his gaze and his eyes widened. "This had been the plan from the start, wasn't it? You knew that if you suggested a trip with 'something worth his while' that I'd release the bird!" Duo rose from the bed and stomped past his father.

"Where are you going?" His father asked.

"To tell the guards to catch another eagle."

"You don't have enough time." The king stated simply.

Duo turned on his heels with a suspicious look. "The journey from his palace to ours takes a week..."

"That's why I sent a post dove six days ago... They'll arrive tomorrow."

He stomped back into his room. He knew his father wanted to follow but he slammed the door into his face and locked it. Now he was truly angry. If he wasnâ€™t aware of the fact that the guards had strict order to hang even Duo if he killed the king he would have twisted his fathers neck seventeen times by now. The man was such a...there were no words to describe him. The man would do anything and more to ruin Duo's life, just for the sake of his own sick amusement. And to think he thought his father was â€˜quite a cool guyâ€™ no longer than a year ago...unbelievable...

He walked out onto the balcony, his hands in his hair. He leaned his back against the high banister and closed his eyes, feeling Heero's curious looks in the side of his head. "What!" He snapped at the younger man.

Heero didn't respond in any way. He merely continued to stare.

Duo fumed, looking enraged at him. "I should have never listened to you! I should have never released that damn bird!"

Heero didn't seem to understand, but besides a minor change in his expression, he remained unresponsive. After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, Heero left him alone on the balcony, lying down on his pillows he closed his eyes. Duo wasn't sure if he really did fall asleep or if he was just pretending, but it didn't matter. If he couldn't find a decent excuse for the visiting king tomorrow he'd lose Heero...

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As he woke, he figured it was morning, but as he opened his eyes he reckoned it was almost noon, he woke to the sound of trumpets and the sound of hooves whispering in the  
loose sand. Quickly rising and walking out on the balcony he leaned over the banister to look past the side of the palace. He swallowed loudly as he saw a large horse caravan nearing the palace, many of the guards had red flags in their hands with the symbol of Romefellers kingdom on it. In the middle of the caravan four horses pulled a large, covered, sled that easily slithered through the sand.

He rushed back into his room, his robe flapping behind him. Duo got dressed as quick as humanly possible in the neatest clothing he had. Looking at the ground, Heero seemed to be fast asleep. Even though he didn't want to, he stepped over to him and gently shook him awake. Of course a hand lashed out, hitting him just under the knee. It was only a halfhearted punch, but he got the message.

"Get dressed Heero," he urged, not even bothering to try and call him 'slave', the 'family jewels' weren't safe if he ever attempted that. "We have guests." He explained.

Heero never looked less interested, arching an eyebrow at Duo who was fussing over his looks.

"Get dressed!" Duo called again. Looking at Heero, who refused to move, he sighed dramatically and threw some clothes at the young man. Finally Heero slowly crawled out of his 'bed' groaning and began, slowly, putting on the clothes.

A knock on the door and one of the servants called out their guests had arrived.

"Yes, thank you!" He hastily retorted. Once Heero was done Duo pointed a strict finger at him. "You stay here, okay?" He ordered, not wanting Heero to roam the castle like he did last week.

Heero sighed, "If I have to stay here, why did I had to get dressed?"

"Because I know my father will probably come to get you and I want you to be ready. Stay here and fight my father off as long as you can."

Heero smirked. "With pleasure."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

He strode into the hallway and all but jumped off the grand, swirling staircase, down into the main hall where he ran into his father, also in his fanciest clothing, looking very smug and pleased with himself. As if nothing was wrong between them the blonde king stepped forward and straightened his son's clothing. The gesture had Duo fuming, panting with anger, but he stood still, waiting for the ordeal to end.

"Let's go greet our guest." His father spoke, letting go of him and leading the way out the door. Ten guards guiding them to the end of the path where the caravan had come to a halt.

The caravan consisted only out of black horses. The saddles were made from luxurious leather with red decorations. The flags stood out in the colorless desert. In the centre was the chariot, panted red, black curtains in front of the windows. Duo watched with slight humor, Romefeller always did love the drama of the ordeal of arrival. He dared to bet stepping into the red carpet his own guards had laid out made him feel like the richest man in the world. It was pathetic. If Duo had to point out a man that was even worse than his father, his finger would point in Romefeller's direction. Strangely enough, just like Duo's father, he managed to get a woman pregnant with a normal child. A son that didn't get off on the idea that he could make people do the most disgusting things just because he was their king.

He shot his father a sideways glance as the doors were opened by one of the horsemen, and they watched a black clad leg come out to be planted firmly on the ground.

Duo was surprised to see that the first one to come out was not drama queen Romefeller but his son, Trowa Barton Romefeller. The tall man got out with the grace of a feline. He smiled friendly in Duoâ€™s direction and bowed before Duo's father, then he turned back and reached his hand inside the chariot. "I hope you don't mind." Trowa said, sounding proud and loving, a tone very unusual for the normally stoic young man, "but I brought my  
slave."

"Not at all!" Duo's father called out, "I'd be glad to accept a good slave in my palace." He gave his son a venomous glare but he was forced to drop his jaw as the prince's slave got out and was revealed in the bright son.

The first thing Duo noticed was the blonde hair, besides his father he had never met someone in this country with blonde hair, the second thing he noticed were the aqua eyes, another unusual thing in a part of the world which homed brown haired and brown eyed people. Of course that wasn't the first thing his father noticed. Of that, Duo was sure and his face broke into a grin. The first his father would notice would be the pants instead of  
skirt, the second thing his father would probably notice would be the flat chest. And Duo dared to bet his father didn't even register the blue eyes or blonde hair. All his father could see, was the face... of a boy.

"This is my, well, I don't like to use the term 'slave'..." Trowa blushed. Very un-like Trowa behaviour, "King Maxwell. Duo," he nodded towards his friend and father, "This is Quatre."

The blonde slave, Quatre, smiled kindly and bowed his head.

"Also, I have to apologize for my father's absence, he couldn't join us due to an illness that struck him."

This was the happiest day of Duo's life, he was sure of it. He watched his father splutter and make all kinds of unmagestic noises as he stared at Trowa and his slave. Duo, however, was happy to break the ice, he stepped forward and shook Trowa's hand. "Glad to see you again, especially in such a happy state. You must be quite the slave to make my monotone friend smile and blush like that."

Quatre's face turned crimson red and he hid his face behind Trowa's shoulder.

Duo thought it was adorable, but at the same time he couldn't help but feel regret, if only Heero made looks like that. He tried to envision it, but found it an impossible picture to summon.

"Yes, Quatre has really enhanced my life." A frown appeared on Trowa's face.  
"Where is your father going?"

Duo turned around to see his father quickly walking back into the palace, his entire body tense, his fists clenched at his sides. Duo turned back to his friend, a smile that could split his face in half. "Trowa, my friend, you have no idea just how happy I am to see you."

Trowa frowned. "You look awfully pleased with yourself."

"I'm getting there, I'm getting there."

Trowa suddenly seemed a bit uncomfortable and hemotioned to Quatre and himself. "You are not offended by this?"

"By what?" Duo seemed truly puzzled.

"You know, two guys, my father doesn't really suffer from a virus, he is still trying to get his wits together after I told him I would be keeping Quatre as my personal slave."

If possible, the smile on Duo's face got bigger "Trowa, I would like you to meet someone." He simply stated and then walked back to the palace. Trowa and his slave followed him in.

"I assume you finally found a slave of your own?"

"Uhm... yeah, I guess you could say that. Though I don't like to call him a slave." He answered as they made their way up the stairs.

"I know, me neither, I don't want to offend Quatre."

"Yeah and I don't want to get kicked in the balls." Looking back he saw a deep frown appearing on Trowa's face as the prince followed him to the door to his bedroom. "You might want to leave Quatre outside, it could get dangerous." He said, only half joking.

"Duo, what did you get, a wild animal!"

In mock surprise Duo called: "Who told you? No, but seriously, protect your eyes and everything under the belt." Again, only half was a joke.

Trowa told his slave to wait outside while Duo unlocked the door and invited him in. He was surprised to see that Heero was exactly where he had left him, sitting on his pillows, back towards them.

"Your slave?" Trowa questioned.

"Ha! In his dreams." Heero turned around to face them with his every icy stare. He frowned lightly, seeing the tall son of Romefeller. Obviously Heero had expected an old man and was surprised to see such young meat. Duo had to admit he wasn't all too pleased with the looks Heero was giving his friend.

"Trowa, meet Heero, Heero, this is Trowa, king Romefeller's son."

"Hello Heero."

Duo was all but shocked to see that Trowa walked straight towards the seated boy and reached out his hand. Heero momentarily stared at the hand before raising his own. Duo was about to warn the prince but swallowed his cries as he saw Heero gently grab Trowaâ€™s hand and shake it, introducing himself as Heero Yuy. That reminded Duo of the first time they had 'met'. The only time he had ever heard Heero's full name. To be honest, he had forgotten all about it, even though a last name was very important in this country, it gave you pride, dignity, or shamed you because of something your parents or  
grandparents did. Maybe, Heero didn't have a last name to be ashamed of, otherwise, why would he voluntarily give it to a very powerful man who could have him hanged if his name was dirtied.

Apparently Heero liked the whole 'respect' thing Trowa had going on and instead of a kick in the balls, like he would normally give Duo, he friendly shook his head and even though he could not bear a smile, his expression was far from hostile, a little too far.

"Okay, that's enough lovebirds!" Duo smiled, his tone happy and careless, not betraying the jealousy in his heart.

Quatre walked in after Trowa had called him and also shook his hand, this time, Heero didn't say his last name, maybe because Quatre didn't either. Duo then had a very nasty thought that made him feel ashamed of himself and jealous of Trowa and Quatre, it also made him very angry at himself... He had never even shaken Heero's hand. After months of living with him, never further away from each other than the leash allowed, he had yet to shake the slim, long fingered hand. Why? Just because it was the inapropriate thing to do?

He had yet to learn anything about him. All he knew was that he was beautiful and incredibly stubborn. The only thing he could attempt to comfort himself with was that Heero also hadn't made an effort to get to know his master. But then again, why would he, he never chose to be here...

"You okay Duo?" Trowa asked in a hushed tone, his hand landing on Duo's shoulder in a comforting gesture.

Duo looked up from his marble floor and flashed him a grin. "Sure! I was just admiring my reflection!" The comment made Trowa as well as Quatre laugh, but it made Heero look away with a barely audible snort.

**... bear with me, I'm doing my best.**

**C.W. (but you already knew that)**


End file.
